Monthly Archives: June 2017

RELAUNCH BLITZ ~ Needing Moore (The Complete Series) by Julie A. Richman

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A brand-new version of The USA Today Bestselling Needing Moore Series by Julie A. Richman, containing never seen before NEW FEATURES is available NOW!!

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To celebrate the relaunch of this top-rated series, the all new boxed set is ON SALE for only 99¢ for a very LIMITED-TIME!

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Synopsis

Sometimes the one you never got over is just a friend request away …

There were no cell phones or internet or google when she left me and I never knew why she walked away from our relationship.

I loved her, like head-over-heels crazy loved her.

And when she walked out on me at the end of our freshman year, without even a goodbye, she broke my heart.

So, I got a surprise gift the other night at my birthday party, an old college friend casually mentioned he saw her on Facebook.

Best present I’ve received in over twenty years.

Now, I’m finally going to get my answer.

She owes me an explanation at to why she left …

Damn, I loved her.

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I was having such a crappy morning at work and then his email arrived.

It was a friend request and to say I was shocked would be an understatement.

A lifetime had passed since we’d last been in contact.

But just seeing his name on my computer screen, made me react in a way I thought I was no longer capable of,

you see, I had never gotten over loving him, even though he betrayed me.


And so begins the saga of Schooner Moore and Mia Silver, lovers separated after their first year of college and not reunited again for over twenty years. But two decades was not long enough for their flame to be extinguished and reuniting could cost them everything.



Check out these amazing bonus components that will be exclusive in this box set:

 New Cover (OMG, get ready to fall in love!)

 Never before seen Sneak Peek of MOORE THAN A FEELING, the highly anticipated Holly Moore story – releasing Fall/Winter 2017

Available for the first time as a set in a single – volume paperback

Single Volume Paperback (all 3 novels) will be on sale for 1-week beginning 6/26

$19.99 (reg. 26.99)

Complete re-edit of all 3 books

Bonus chapters for EACH book will still be included


 

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Read Today for only 99¢!

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About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author Julie A. Richman is a native New Yorker living deep in the heart of Texas. A creative writing major in college, reading and writing fiction has always been a passion.Julie Richman

Julie began her corporate career in publishing in NYC and writing played a major role throughout her career as she created and wrote marketing, advertising, direct mail and fundraising materials for Fortune 500 corporations, advertising agencies and non-profit organizations.

She is an award winning nature photographer plagued with insatiable wanderlust. Julie and her husband have one son and a white German Shepherd named Juneau.

 

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RELEASE BLITZ ~ Falling for Loverboy (Sex & Secrets #2) by Jani Kay

Title: Falling for Loverboy
Series: Sex & Secrets #2
Author: Jani Kay

Genre: Forbidden Romance
Release Date: June 26, 2017

Blurb
 
Forbidden Romance / Feel Good Story
 
How can something so wrong, feel so right?
 
SUNSHINE
 
It started with an online dating website. 
Two strangers. 
Different cities.
No real names. 
The perfect distraction from everything that makes me want to run away. 
 
When we decide to meet for a drink, I don’t expect to get knocked over and lose my memory, with only the stranger to help me. 
I’ve forgotten my past, but my present is perfect because I’m falling for Loverboy.
Until I remember who I am …
 
LOVERBOY
 
I’ve committed the ultimate sin … Falling for Sunshine.
She’s lost her memory and buried her secrets.
Secrets that will tear us apart and destroy us.
 
What happens when past and present collide?
Who is the girl with no name, and what is she hiding?
 
 
Warning: 18+ Adult situations & language.
 
Author’s Note:
This is a STANDALONE novel and part of a series (Sex & Secrets Book #2) It’s not necessary to read Book #1 Dirty Secrets before you read Book #2
 
Dirty language and sexy scenes are plentiful. You have been warned! Oh, and a HEA, of course 🙂


 

Purchase Links

AMAZON: US / UK / CA / AU
 



 
Also Available
 
AMAZON: US / UK / CA / AU

 

Author Bio
 
USA Today Bestselling Author – Jani Kay lives in Western Australia within a ten minute walk to the beach which is one of her favorite places to chill out.

She has been a bookworm all her life – as a voracious reader, she would gladly spend her last dollar on a book. She is always fascinated that for the mere price of a book (often less than the price of a coffee!), she can escape her life for a while and see through someone else’s eyes into their world.

Jani loves the colour red, is a fiery Aries, is impatient and always storming ahead with those ram’s horns, bashing her head…she has a wicked sense of humour and loves laughing.

In her ‘other’ life, Jani is a business woman and a scientist – a creative scientist though – she formulates skin care products and brews up concoctions in her laboratory…

She has 2 beautiful children who have grown into amazing young adults and Jani is very proud of them.

Besides reading and writing, her favorite ‘thing’ is traveling and drinking cocktails on the beach while watching the sun set over the ocean (Sex on The Beach anyone?).Above all, she believes in Kindness, Karma, Miracles and Magic… 

 
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RELEASE BLITZ ~ Tied by Carian Cole

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Tied, the anticipated follow-up to Torn, by Carian Cole is NOW LIVE!
He’s the only one that has ever made me feel. And I want to make him feel, too.

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FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon US:
Amazon UK: 


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Synopsis:

He was the myth and the legend of our small town. But no one knew the truth… except me.

Me
My childhood was stolen by a monster. I’ve forgotten what love feels like. What happiness feels like. What hope feels like. I am numb.

Him
He’s possibly as damaged as I am. Maybe even more. Scarred just as much on the inside as the outside. Just like me. He doesn’t speak. He doesn’t smile. He hides in the woods like an animal. I should be scared of him. But I’m not. He’s the only one that has ever made me feel. And I want to make him feel, too. everything…


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Read Torn, the first book in this series
(all can be read standalone):

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About the Author:

I have a passion for the bad boys, those covered in tattoos, sexy smirks, ripped jeans, fast cars, motorcycles and of course, the sweet girls that try to tame them and win their hearts.

My first novel in the best-selling Ashes & Embers series, Storm, published in September of 2014. I have many books and sequels slated for this series. My new spin-off series, Devils Wolves, launched in 2016 with the best-selling novel, Torn. There are several books planned for this series as well.

Born and raised a Jersey girl, I now reside in beautiful New Hampshire with my husband and our multitude of furry pets and spend most of my time writing, reading, and vacuuming.

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Email: carrie@cariancole.com


PRE-RELEASE BLITZ ~ Whispered Prayers of a Girl by Alex Grayson

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Whispered Prayers of a Girl by Alex Grayson releases July 10!

This is one emotionally satisfying read, but warning: tissues may be necessary!

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PRE-ORDER NOW!!!

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BLURB

A tortured soul meets a damaged family…

A lonely man, a widowed woman, a carefree boy, and a broken girl… Can the four come together and help heal each other? Or will fear of the unknown and guilt of the past keep them apart?

Her whispered prayers break her…

At night, as she’s drifting off to sleep, I press my ear to the door and listen to her heart-wrenching pleas. Her words are agony to my healing heart, but I cherish the sound of them, for that’s the only time I ever hear my beautiful daughter speak. Since her father died two years ago, she’s grown quiet and withdrawn. Cat’s Valley was to be our new beginning, a place where my family and I can heal, but what we find there is so much more.

Scars mar his body. Pain has left him in pieces…

Four years ago, I lost the two things I cherished most in the world. They were ripped from my arms in the most painful and cruel way. Since then, I’ve kept to myself, preferring to stay away from the pitying looks and murmured rumors. Everything changed when she and her children barged into my life. It was an accident, and I don’t deserve them, but now that they’ve stepped into my life, I’m not sure I can let them go.

*This book is intended for mature audiences, ages 18+. It may be enjoyed as a standalone!


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About the Author:

Alex Grayson is the bestselling author of heart pounding, emotionally gripping contemporary romance including The Jaded Series, The Consumed Series, and two standalone novels. Her passion for books was reignited by a gift from her sister-in-law intended to distract Alex and help her pass the time while her husband was away for work. After spending several years as a devoted reader and blogger, Alex decided to write and independently publish her first novel in 2014 (an endeavor that took a little longer than expected). The rest, as they say, is history.

Originally a southern girl, Alex now lives in Ohio with her husband, two children, two cats and dog. She loves the color blue, homemade lasagna, casually browsing real estate, and interacting with her readers. Visit her website or find her on social media!

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RELEASE BOOST ~ One Night (One & Only #3) by Christie Ridgway

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One Night by Christie Ridgway is Available Now!

“Christie Ridgway writes a sizzling combination of heat and heart.”
– Barbara Freethy, #1 New York Times Bestseller

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Landscaper Brett Walker might have two sisters on the brink of making marriage commitments, but he’s not ready to promise a lifetime to any woman. Especially not to tempting and beautiful Angelica Rodriguez, one of the resort area’s wealthy visitors. They come from two different worlds.

Angelica Rodriguez wants family, friends, and a place where she can sink her roots deep. A man, not so much. After all, her father has just swindled her savings away. What she needs is a job, and when Brett’s sister offers her a position cleaning houses and his other sister says she can stay at the family cabins, Angelica can’t say no—though it means becoming a neighbor to the maddening and oh-so-masculine Brett, who makes her want to say yes, yes, yes.

On the autumn shores of beautiful Blue Arrow Lake, can two lonely, wary people open their hearts to love?

This is an enhanced version of a book previously published as CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING and includes extras.

One Love by Christie Ridgway is coming on JULY 18th!


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Preorder Now:

 
 
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Mackenzie Walker is attempting to enjoy the last of her siblings’ weddings when her long-lost first love, Alexander “Zan” Elliott, crashes the reception. During the last ten years she’s cultivated her reputation as tough and unsentimental, but one glimpse of Zan softens her heart and sets her pulse racing. But he claims to be a short-timer in the area and she’ll never admit—not even to herself—she’s been carrying a torch for him all this time.

Zan Elliott has business at Blue Arrow Lake and then he’ll go right back to his wandering-the-world life as a documentary filmmaker. But seeing the Walkers again, seeing Mac again, brings back the best of childhood memories. There are lessons he learned then too, however. Love means loss and starting things up once more with Mac might ultimately hurt them both. Yet battling his feelings is getting more difficult by the day…

Winter is anything but cold in the snowy mountains surrounding beautiful Blue Arrow Lake as a reunion between two former lovers sparks a brand new fire.

This is an enhanced version of a book previously published as CAN’T FIGHT THIS FEELING and includes extras.


 
About the Author:
 
Christie Ridgway is a California native and author of over forty-five contemporary romances. A six-time RITA finalist and USA Today bestselling author, she writes sexy, emotional reads starring determined heroines and the men who can’t help but love them. She has a Career Achievement award from RT Book Reviews and twice has received their Reviewer’s Choice award for best contemporary romance of the year. Married to her college sweetheart, Christie lives in Southern California in a house filled with boys and pets. She writes as an escape from sports equipment, football on TV, and dog hair.
 
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RELEASE DAY BLITZ ~ Forgetting You, Forgetting Me (Memories From Yesterday #1) by Monica James

 

RELEASE DAY BLITZ

 

Forgetting You, Forgetting Me
Series: Memories From Yesterday Book 1
Monica James

 

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 26th 2017
German Rights sold to: Heyne, Random House

 

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My name is Lucy Tucker, and my life…it was perfect.

I worked the dream job. I had the most incredible family and friends. My home, Whispering Willows, a ranch in Montana, was everything I could ever wish for. My adoring fiancé, Samuel Stone, loved me unconditionally.

I had everything a girl could ever want.

But one fateful event shattered my perfect life. It’s unimaginable how simple, ordinary words can change a person’s life forever. For me those words were, “There’s been an accident.”

I thought Sam was my forever, but that forever came to a close the day Saxon Stone, Sam’s identical twin brother, came back. Saxon returned to Montana to help save Sam, however, the moment he entered my life, he turned my world upside down. But through chaos I somehow found clarity—clarity of who I was meant to be.

As time progressed, as seasons changed, and as a fire began to burn, I soon realized that Saxon was there for another reason…he was there to help save me.



Excerpt

“Let’s pretend tomorrow doesn’t exist.” Pressing his forehead to mine, he earnestly says, “Whatever happens now, it’ll just be memories from yesterday.” I can feel the tremble rumble throughout his entire body, and his uncertainty leaves me abandoning any lingering doubts. For this stolen moment in time, I just want to…feel.

Gently pushing on his bare, solid chest, he allows me to climb onto his lap as he nestles into the rocky terrain. Without a second thought, I wrap my legs around his waist and hold on tight, with no intention of ever letting go. His chest is rising and falling so quickly, I’m certain I can hear his heart hammering wildly within his body. The cadence matches mine as I seal my mouth around his. The touch of his full lips pressed to mine is complete perfection. But when he angles my mouth at the perfect slope and skillfully tangles my tongue with his, I know that this is nirvana.

The kiss at first is slow, like a roller coaster beginning its incline. But as we reach the pinnacle, it’s an exhilarating head rush of fast, breathtaking passion. When he senses me coyly opening up, lowering my guard and losing myself in the moment, he growls into my mouth. He dominates me with a fierce desire and in this moment, I am his.

I can’t keep up with the frantic pace, and finally, I surrender all I am. I allow him total control, melting when he sucks my bottom lip with a long, wet pull. I madly fuse our lips together, unable to get enough of this heady feeling, needing him to consume me, devour me, make me whole.



 

About the Author:

Monica James spent her youth devouring the works of Anne Rice, William Shakespeare, and Emily Dickinson.

When she is not writing, Monica is busy running her own business, but she always finds a balance between the two. She enjoys writing honest, heartfelt, and turbulent stories, hoping to leave an imprint on her readers. She draws her inspiration from life.

She is a bestselling author in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and the U.K.

Monica James resides in Melbourne, Australia, with her wonderful family, and menagerie of animals. She is slightly obsessed with cats, chucks, and lip gloss, and secretly wishes she was a ninja on the weekends.

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COVER REVEAL ~ Seducing Lola by Jessica Prince

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Seducing Lola
by Jessica Prince

Publication Date: July 18th, 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Seducing Lola, an all-new romantic standalone from Jessica Prince is coming July 18th!!

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I’ve had my fair share of bad relationships. I’ve dated liars, cheaters, shoe fetishists, and everything in between. Sure, these experiences would make any woman cynical when it comes to dipping her toe back into the dating pool, but I used my past for good and made a career out of helping other women avoid going down the same paths I had.

And I was damn good at it.

Until a random act of fate set my life on a course I’d been avoiding for years, and put me in the crosshairs of a man that made me feel things I swore to never feel again.

Now I’m in his sights and it seems like he’ll stop at nothing to seduce the hell out of me. He might hold my career in the palm of his hands, but if Grayson Lockhart thinks he can blackmail me into submission with his sexy voice and sexy hands and sexy everything, then he’s…probably right.

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About the Author:unnamed-2

Born and raised around Houston Texas, Jessica spent most of her life complaining about the heat, humidity, and all around pain in the ass weather. It was only as an adult that she quickly realized the cost of living in Houston made up for not being able to breathe when she stepped outside. That’s why God created central air, after all.

Jessica is the mother of a perfect little boy–she refuses to accept that he inherited her attitude and sarcastic nature no matter what her husband says.

In addition to being a wife and mom, she’s also a wino, a coffee addict, and an avid lover of all types of books–romances still being her all time favs. Her husband likes to claim that reading is her obsession but she just says it’s a passion…there’s a difference. Not that she’d expect a boy to understand.

Jessica has been writing since she was a little girl, but thankfully grew out of drawing her own pictures for her stories before ever publishing her first book. Because an artist she is not.

 

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FREE TODAY ~ My Father’s Best Friend by Fiona Davenport

To celebrate the completion of The Virgin’s Guardian
(which will appear in a multi-author box set in early July),

My Father’s Best Friend is FREE today!

My Father’s Best Friend

When Ethan Parker’s investigation leads him to Delilah Brooks, he hopes he’s finally found his best friend’s long-lost daughter. What he wasn’t expecting was to want her for himself—with an intensity that drives him to get her pregnant before her father finds out about the two of them.

Delilah falls hard and fast for Ethan. But she isn’t sure what to think when he confesses his connection to the father she’s never met. Or how her father is going to react when he learns she’s having his best friend’s baby.
 

 
 
And don’t miss one of our other taboo stories, My Step-Dad’s Brother.

Only 99 cents and available in Kindle Unlimited!

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The Yankee Billionaire’s Bride (Billionaire Brides #2) by Roz Lee

Title: The Yankee Billionaire’s Bride
Series: Billionaire Brides Book 2
Author: Roz Lee

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Blurb

Visiting the tiny town of Butte Plains, Texas to help out a friend, born and bred Yankee Scott Ramsey has no intention of falling in love, but it isn’t long before the wide open plains, and especially the meadows—Roseanne Meadows—stake a claim on his heart. The Lone Star state seems welcoming enough, but after the owner of The Yellow Rose Bed and Breakfast stole his heart, suddenly, for reasons he can’t understand, he’s relegated to carpetbagger status. What will it take to convince Roseanne his home is where his heart is?

Roseanne Meadows knew better than to fall in love with a Yankee carpetbagger, but it’s too late now. What’s done is done, and the sooner Scott Ramsey packs up his toys and goes home to his venomous family, the better. Faced with an unexpected life-altering situation, in true Texan style, the owner of The Yellow Rose B&B will do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means leaving the only place her heart has ever called home.

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Excerpt

You’re back.”

I said I would be. You haven’t rented my room out to someone else have you?” Scott set his suitcase in the wide foyer of the B&B and smiled at the owner of the inn who wasn’t smiling back at him.

No. I haven’t, but maybe I should.”

He stood frozen, one hand on the handle of his luggage, the other in his pocket where he’d deposited his keys. What the hell had happened while he was gone? “What are you saying? You want me to leave?”

Roseanne glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen then back at him. “Keep your voice down. The whole world doesn’t need to know our business.”

Scott didn’t care who heard, but appearances meant a lot to Roseanne, so he lowered his voice to a near whisper. “What’s going on?” For the first time since he’d entered the house, he noticed she was wringing her hands—something she only did when she was nervous.

Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

He cocked his head to one side. “Find out what?”

Your parents’ anniversary party?” She quit fidgeting and squared her shoulders. Her hands became small fists at her sides. “You know—the one you attended last night?”

Scott sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. Shit. What could he say? I didn’t want to drag you into the mess that is my family? I didn’t want you to meet my parents? I didn’t want you to get hurt? All of them true, but obviously not what she wanted to hear, so he pulled out the only plausible explanation he could think of. “You were sick. I thought knowing what you were missing would make you feel even worse.”

Her face turned thunderous. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. You knew about the party long before I got sick. You could have told me anytime, but you didn’t because you didn’t want me to go with you. I’m not an idiot, Scott. I know I’m not in your league, but you could have been honest with me. I deserved that much.”

I wanted—”

She held her hand up. “Stop. Just stop. Don’t say another word. I have no right to be upset, but I am, which is on me. I let myself think there was more between us than there was. So, thanks for the reality check, and please find another place to stay as soon as possible.”

He should have told her about the party when he first heard about it. Roseanne was more than capable of holding her own in his parents’ world. A cold, hard truth settled over him. Yes, he’d been protecting her from the pointed barbs his family could throw, but he’d also been protecting himself. He didn’t want Roseanne to see the way his family treated him. Didn’t want her to know he was, if not exactly the black sheep, the one with the purple stripes—the one his family couldn’t understand. Had never made an effort to understand. He’d screwed up, big time. Worse, he had no idea how to fix it. “You can’t be serious.”

Her features hardened even more, and he got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He’d said the wrong thing. As usual. “I’ve never been more serious in my life. You’ve got twenty-four hours. If you aren’t out by then, you’ll find your things waiting for you on the front porch. Is that clear?”


Meet the Author

USA Today Bestselling Author, Roz Lee is a displaced Texan who lives in New Jersey with her husband of almost four decades, and Bud, an overly large rescue dog who demands regular romps in the woods no matter how busy his parents are.

The mom of two daughters and grandma to the cutest baby boy ever, Roz collects Depression glass, and teacups with rose patterns. Her favorite food is Tex-Mex, and she’s never met a piece of chocolate she didn’t like.

When Roz isn’t writing, she’s reading, or traipsing around the country on one adventure or another. Warning—she brakes for antique stores!

Author Web & Social Media links:

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BLOG TOUR ~ Bear With Me (The Blood Realm Series #4) by Jennifer Blackstream

 

 Title: Bear With Me
Series: The Blood Realm Series #4

By: Jennifer Blackstream

 

Publication Date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Skeleton Key Publishing
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Cover Designer: YOCLA Designs

 

 
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A PRINCE TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A BEAR

Torben is a bear shifter struggling to pass a test laid on him by his power-hungry stepmother. Bound into his beast form during the day, able to be human only at night when the darkness hides him, he must find a wife. She can know him only as a bear and a bodiless voice in the night. For one year, she must let him keep his secrets, trust him as a wife should trust her husband. But what woman will climb into bed with a bear and trust it is a man waiting for her?

A BARD LOOKING FOR HER VOICE

After witnessing her mother’s murder left her blind, Leta had to put away her sword and her dreams of becoming a bard. Now she is resigned to a calm life where the best she can hope for is a good marriage that will take the burden of her care from her father’s shoulders. When her father claims the gods have sent a man to be not just her husband, but perhaps her savior, Leta has to take a leap of faith…and hope she falls in love.

Even a blind woman can see when something is worth fighting for…


The Blood Realm Series #3

The Blood Realm Series #2 
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The Blood Rose Series #1


It was on the tip of Leta’s tongue to argue, to tell her father what he could do with his suitor who thought he could fix the poor little blind girl. But she bit it back. This was what they’d hoped for, what they’d thought would be impossible. This was no time for her battered pride to make a stand. 
 
“I’ll meet with him.” She took a deep breath and straightened her spine. “Perhaps you could invite him to dinner this week?”
 
Her father cleared his throat. “He’s here. Now.”
 
She slumped, hands going limp in her lap. “What? What do you mean he’s here now?”
 
“He’s here…for you.”
 
“He’s…” Her voice was a pathetic squeak, and now it was her turn to clear her throat. “Father…are you telling me you’ve already given him my hand?”
 
“I signed the marriage contract five minutes ago.”
 
His voice was a whisper, so quiet she might not have heard it two months ago, before she’d lost her vision, when her other senses had not been quite so keen. She swayed and put a hand on the floor to steady herself. She’d agreed to an arranged marriage, had given him her blessing to find her a suitor. But…
 
“I don’t understand. Why so quickly?”
 
“Leta, it’s been two months. I’d hoped you would come through this on your own. I prayed you would come through this on your own. But you haven’t. I don’t know how to help you. I…” His voice broke and he groped for her hands, took them in his trembling fingers. “Leta, you need someone who will make you feel safe, who might be able to bring you through—”
 
“And what if there is no through this? What if this is who I am now, what I am now?” Her muscles tingled with the urge to stand, to stalk away from him, storm off in a healthy fit of justified indignation. “You couldn’t let me have any dignity? Couldn’t let me go into this arranged marriage like any other woman? You had to send me off to be fixed, as though I were a table with a wobbly leg?”
 
Experience kept her kneeling on the floor. If she tried to fly off in a rage, she would succeed only in humiliating herself. High emotions flustered her, made it harder to remember where all the furniture was, how far the wall was. A broken nose or bruised shins wouldn’t help anyone, and it certainly wouldn’t do her wounded pride any good. And so she sat there, a prisoner. Locked in a dark world.
 
“Well then,” she said, her voice tight, “I suppose I’d better go meet the man who will be my nursemaid from now on.”
 
“Leta—” 
 
“Are you going to escort me out, or would you like me to feel my way there, give him a good idea of what he’s getting himself into?”
 
“Leta, please—”
 
“Very well.” She was being childish now, but she didn’t care. She surged to her feet and stuck her arms out in front of her, swinging them side to side as she took small steps toward where she thought the doorway was. Her nerves screamed with heightened awareness, bracing to be struck by something, as if the room were suddenly full of stalactites. Ignoring her father’s protests, she shuffled forward, feeling in front of her with the toes of each foot and the tips of her fingers. 
 
Her father tried to take her arm when she reached the door, but she shrugged him off. Composing herself as best she could, she groped along the wall of the hallway, inching closer and closer to the main room of the house. She was grateful there were no stairs, and she was able to make it to the sitting room attached to the foyer without falling or striking anything. 
 
It was hard to describe how she knew someone was in the room, even though she couldn’t see. Something about the hairs on the back of her neck, a tingle down her spine that screamed at her she was being watched. She always knew when someone else was in the room with her, but this time there was something more. A thrill that brushed her fight-or-flight reflex, filled her with a strange, warbling anxiety. Someone was watching her. Someone…big.
 
Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t possibly feel size, her mind chastised her. Still, her senses stubbornly refused to admit any doubt. Whoever was watching her had a weight to his presence, and she could feel it. She blinked and moved her eyes around, trying to see something, anything, a slice of shadow or light that would give her a clue. But the darkness remained as thick as it always was, silent and impenetrable. 
 
A strange scent wafted past her nose. Musk and the crisp scent of the wind off the mountains to the north. The faintest hint of sea air. The floor creaked as someone shifted their weight. Her heart skipped a beat and her instincts crowed in vindication. There was definite weight to that sound. 
 
If that was her husband, he was not a small man. 
 
“Are you really going to let the blind woman stand here wondering if she’s alone in the room?”
 
“You seem very aware that you are not alone.”
 
The voice was masculine, and so deep that it vibrated things low in her body, quickened the pulse in her neck. She angled her ear toward that voice, forming a mental picture of the room and her visitor’s location based on where his voice had come from. It was lower than she’d expected, as though he were sitting down.
 
“Leta, this is Torben Biorna. Torben, this is my daughter Leta.”
 
“I understand I’m your wife now.”
 
She threw the words down like a gauntlet, using her tone to make it clear what she thought of such things being settled without her presence, let alone input. The floor creaked again, and somewhere underneath that was a different sound that she wasn’t familiar with. Something hard sliding against the wood. It was brief, too brief for her to consider it closely. She frowned and tilted her head a little more, waiting to hear if it would happen again.
 
“Yes, you are my wife.”
 
Again his voice did strange and wonderful things to her body, teasing sensations from her with that hint of promise, that faint brush of heat. Warmth washed over her cheeks, and she was horrified to realize she was blushing.
 
If he noticed her embarrassing reaction, he kept it from his voice. “Things progressed quickly, and I don’t blame you for being displeased at your lack of participation. It is not how I would have liked to begin our relationship, but I hope you’ll give me a chance to make it up to you.”
 
She groped for her temper, needing it to bolster her defenses against that voice. “My father says you think you can fix me.” 
 
“Leta,” her father warned.
 
“No, it’s all right. I would be offended too, were I in her place.” 
 
Another creak of the floorboards, followed by that same sound. Leta leaned forward, and it stopped immediately.
 
“You do not need to be fixed, Leta. You are not broken.”
 
Her father had spoken those same words to her, more times than she could count. But they were different coming from this man. He spoke with a definite authority, an unwavering confidence that said he knew he was right. It touched something inside her, something frightened. A tiny knot of tension she hadn’t been aware of relaxed.
 
“Torben was a solider.” Her father’s voice was gentle now, encouraging. “He’s known a lot of men who had very strong reactions after witnessing horrible things. He’s helped them.”
 
“Your father told me what happened to your mother,” Torben said quietly. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
 
Echoes of her mother’s screams filled Leta’s ears. Her chest rose and fell more rapidly, her breaths sharper, painful. Ice water trickled through her veins, chasing away the warm feeling Torben had summoned with his words, his voice. The knot of tension returned, trailing a string of others until she stood hunched in on herself, falling into an all-too-familiar nightmare. 
 
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice was weak, strangled by the memory peeking out at her like a monster from the mouth of a cave. She held her hands out, feeling around herself for orientation.
 
“Leta, here, come sit down.”
 
Her father took her arm, and she wilted with relief and let him lead her to a chair. Sitting calmed her, took away the awful feeling of disorientation that struck her when her emotions overwhelmed her spatial sense. She fought her way out of the panic, tried to reorient herself, remember where her husband was. 
 
“We don’t have to talk about it.” He spoke as if he’d sensed her discomfort, her need to know where he was. “Know only that I am here to listen if you change your mind.”
 
She bobbed her head, grateful for his willingness to let it go. “You’re going to stay with us for a while, then?”
 
Awkward silence billowed into the room like dense fog. 
 
“Leta…he’s your husband.” Her father shifted on his chair, his discomfort announced by every squeak of the wood. “You’re leaving with him.”

 

 

Jennifer Blackstream is a USA Today bestselling author of fantasy/paranormal romance. Urban Fantasy will soon be joining her repertoire, and if she doesn’t get hold of the insidious roving gang of plot bunnies, there’s going to be steampunk sprinkled in there too…

For news, new releases, and a free copy of What Big Teeth You Have, sign up for Jennifer’s mailing list on her website at jenniferblackstream.com.

Jennifer has unfailing affection for the authors who have influenced her, including Laurell K. Hamilton, Jim Butcher, and the sorely missed Sir Terry Pratchett. Her books include humor, romance, and action, with enough darkness to keep things very interesting.

When Jennifer isn’t writing, she can be found re-watching Boondock Saints, Noises Off, or Gross Pointe Blank. With one of those classics in the background, she might also be searching Amazon for something she wants, but doesn’t need (Is there any such thing as a kitchen gadget that isn’t an absolute necessity? And don’t even get me started on office supplies…).

 
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